BoholAnalysis

It’s a good thing to listen to Fred Araneta again, sharing the airtime with replacement anchor Chito Visarra in the all-time favourite DYRD radio program “Inyong Alagad”(Your Servant). I was on my way to work one Tuesday morning (19 February) and chanced upon the duo interviewing in their radio show Deputy Mayor Mario Uy and Vice Mayor Toto Veloso, discussing the recent suspension of operations of the “Botika sa Katawhan”(Public Pharmacy), an establishment that provides inexpensive medicines to poor clients in the city of Tagbilaran. All the fuss started when city Councilor Zenaido Rama, interestingly not politically-aligned with City Mayor Dan Lim, questioned the operations of the said establishment managed by Lim’s strong ally, Deputy Mayor Uy, on the basis that its operations is “too politicized” and that “some of its beneficiaries do not qualify as indigents” ( BC, 17 February 2008 ). In retaliation, Mayor Lim ordered the operations of the pharmacy suspended until such time that th

It’s amazing why a few good things, though how phenomenal they are, do not get printed in our newspapers while all the mudslinging, dirty politics, and boxing matches do. It’s also quite spectacular why a public official who inaugurates a building gets full media treatment (read: words, sounds, and pictures) but not when a non-governmental organization was able to strengthen the livelihood of 536 rural poor households. Last Friday (15 February), I presented an independent evaluation report on a project implemented by the Soil and Water Conservation Foundation in four Eskaya communities in the towns of Duero, Guindulman, Sierra Bullones, and Pilar and in 8 other barangays within Sierra Bullones. The project was successful in increasing the income of around 345 rural households, from below 2,000 monthly gross income to 2,500 and more. It also made possible the strengthening of 12 community associations, most of which currently have more than P70,000 of capital build up (from almost nothi